Five Books of the Torah, with Targumim and commentaries, and with the Or HaChaim commentary by R. Chaim ibn Attar. Slavita: R. Shmuel Avraham Shapira, son of the Rabbi of Slavita, [1824-1825]. Complete five-volume set.

Some words on title page in red.

The first volume contains approbations by Rebbe Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta, R. Mordechai Margaliot of Brody, R. Yitzchak Eizik of Berditchev, R. Chaim HaKohen of Pinsk and R. Efraim Wohl of Sudylkiv. All approbations were granted to R. Moshe Shapira, father of the printer.

Title page of Bereshit dated 1825; title pages of other parts dated 1824.

The Or HaChaim commentary is printed alongside the commentary of Rashi and the Aramaic Targumim: Onkelos, Yonatan ben Uziel and Targum Yerushalmi. Includes Five Megillot.

Chassidic leaders profusely extol the holiness of the Or HaChaim. The Baal Shem Tov said that every night the Or HaChaim hears Torah directly from G-d and he "was among those who have plunged the depths of the Merkavah and the revelation of souls, and has risen to the level of true divine inspiration". He said further that when his own soul ascends each night, he sees that of all the tzaddikim, only R. Chaim ibn Attar precedes him in the ascent, and all his efforts to overtake him were unsuccessful. Reputedly, the reason the Baal Shem Tov attempted to immigrate to Eretz Israel was in order to meet R. Chaim ibn Attar, who was "a spark of Mashiach", to thereby bring about the redemption.

Five volumes. Bereshit: 82, 89-196 leaves. Shemot: 182; 23, [1] leaves. Vayikra: 144 leaves. Bamidbar: 162 leaves. Devarim: 132; 26 leaves. 25-26.5 cm. Bluish paper. Varying condition of volumes, fair to fair-good. Stains, including dampstains (dark stains to title page of Shemot and other places; wax stains in several places). Wear. Tears and open tears to some title pages and other places, affecting text, partially repaired with paper. Large open tear to margins of last leaf of first volume, not affecting text. Worming, affecting text (worming to inner margins in several places). Inscriptions and stamps. Early bindings, with wear and defects, worming in many places and open tears to spines (volume II has only back binding, detached).

Printing the Or HaChaim in Slavita at the Directive of R. Pinchas of Korets, as a Segulah for Protection

The story goes that "R. Pinchas of Korets… instructed his sons [R. Moshe Shapira Rabbi of Slavita, and his brother R. Yechezkel Shapira, who was also involved in the establishment of the Slavita printing press] to print the Or HaChaim every year… that they might thereby be saved from calamity and misfortune, and they fulfilled his directive. But after the books of the Or HaChaim became so prevalent that they could no longer find buyers for them, they stopped printing them, and that year the infamous slander and misfortune occurred" (Migdal Oz, p. 268). (Today, only seven editions of the Slavita Or HaChaim Chumash are bibliographically known, printed between 1791-1832).

The Slavita Printing Press, Founded by R. Moshe Shapira, Rabbi of Slavita

The Jewish printing press in Slavita (present-day Slavuta, Khmelnytskyi Province, Western Ukraine) operated between 1790 and 1836. The founder of the printing press was the Rabbi of the city, R. Moshe Shapira (1762-1840), son of the renowned R. Pinchas of Korets. Already in his youth, he showed exceptional talent in scribal writing, tracing, carving and etching. His illustrious father encouraged him to develop his talent to master these skills. In the early 1790s, R. Moshe was appointed Rabbi of Slavita, yet he concurrently established his famous printing press, not wishing to utilize Torah as a livelihood. The typeface used in the printing press was fashioned by R. Moshe. Apart from the printing press, he also established workshops for production of the paper and type. A large portion of Slavita's Jews earned their livelihood honorably in one of the many divisions of the printing firm. Slavita books were reputed in the Jewish world for their beauty, splendor and accuracy; as well as for the owner of the press, R. Moshe, who was revered by the great Chassidic leaders. R. Moshe of Slavita was close to the Baal HaTanya, R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi, who commended him: "Exceptional in Torah, fear of G-d is his treasure, of holy descent". Sipurim Nora'im by R. Yaakov Keidner (Lviv, 1875) relates the wondrous account of how the Baal HaTanya assisted R. Moshe in attaining a government license for his printing press.

A special advantage of this printing press was that it only produced sacred books, and its type was never desecrated by secular books. Most of the workers were G-d-fearing Jews. According to a famous Chassidic tradition, the equipment and type were immersed in a mikveh before use (regarding the printing press in Slavita, see [in Hebrew]: Haim Dov Friedberg, History of Printing in Poland, Tel Aviv, 1950, p. 104; Ch. Lieberman, Ohel Rachel, I, New York, 1980, pp. 199-202; Sh.D.B. Levine, History of Chabad in Tsarist Russia, Brooklyn, 2010, p. 61). Chassidic masters especially prized siddurim and books printed in holiness in the Slavita press for prayer and study, especially the Tikunei HaZohar edition, which was meant for those with the custom to study the present book of Tikunim between Rosh Chodesh Elul and Yom Kippur.